Process for producing a surface finish sheet

ABSTRACT

This invention is directed to a process for producing a surface finish from natural materials whereby the obtained surface finish may be in the form of any shape, preferably in the form of a thin sheet whose nature has a relationship with the form of a product desired to be finished.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a process for producing a surface finish sheet from natural materials by using friction between materials without using any sort of binder.

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a process for producing a surface finish sheet from natural materials such as materials from plants by aiming at using the interlock friction of natural materials in producing this surface finish sheet without using any binder.

2. Background of the Invention

There are many methods available for the production of a surface finish for covering the surface of any articles or implements such as a surface finish of a plastic or synthetic fiber nature or in the form of composite materials. However, either during the stage of production or application, a binding chemical is required and this may cause pollution.

Many natural materials have been used for this purpose. But mostly a framework of an implement must be produced first and subsequently the required natural material is used for binding said framework such as by winding or adhesion by any means and said framework is usually made from rattan. At present, the use of rattan is discouraged.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a process for producing a surface finish from natural materials. This surface finish may be of any shape, preferably in the form of a thin sheet whose feature relates to the feature of a product desired to be finished.

The process of this invention comprises the stage of producing surface finish strips that should be made from natural materials such as materials from plants, for example, Lygodium flexuosum vine, bamboo, vetiver grass, etc., although other materials can be used such as metals and the stage of producing a surface finish sheet from said surface finish strips by using friction between said surface finish strips.

The stage of producing these surface finish strips essentially comprises the shaping of a natural material into a thin strip with a consistent size throughout its length. This may be carried out by various methods such as whittling, rolling. One method proposed as an embodiment in this invention is whittling. The natural material which has been selected as being suitable for use namely having a size and color as required and may have been dyed with a desired color is first subjected to whittling. The device for whittling is a metal sheet device which have several sized holes whereby downsized the natural material gradually, first insert the material to pass properly through then pass through a smaller hole until a width and a thickness of the strip as required is obtained. A suitable width should be 0.5-5 mm and more preferably be 1-2 mm whereas a suitable thickness should not be greater than 1 mm although this thickness is not critical. The strips should be whittled to a suitable size as required and be even. It is optional to dye these strips after their desired size is obtained.

The stage of producing a surface finish sheet according to this invention is the fabricating and fixing of these strips to make a sheet with multicolored designs as required, whereby the method of this invention can be accomplished by using friction between said surface finish warp strips and weft strips to enable them to adhere together, whereby the proposed method of the invention may be carried out by fixing the warp strips longitudinally to a plate of suitable size which should be larger than an area to be covered with the produced surface finish sheet, without having predetermined specific values and just depending upon a desire and the method of fabricating and fixing of the produced surface finish sheet to the surface of a desired material or equipment, whereby the fabricating and fixing of each surface finish strip may be chosen to be adjacent to one another or interspaced as appropriate. In this regard, it may be optional to alternate the colors to create any designs as required.

As an embodiment of the invention, it is optional to insert a surface finish weft strips under or over said surface finish warp strips and therefore the surface finish weft strip which has been inserted under or over will be parallel to the width of the plate. It may be optional to insert the surface finish weft strips under and over the surface finish warp strips in an alternate order, in a proportion of 1/1 or in other proportion.

As another embodiment of the invention, it may be optional to insert a surface finish weft strips in a diagonal direction to surface finish warp strips by selecting a method of inserting surface finish weft strips to be under or over the surface finish warp strips.

In addition, it may be optional to insert surface finish strips vertically, longitudinally, laterally or diagonally by taking turns and it may be optional to insert them in any sequences or in any proportions.

In this regard, surface finish strips of different sizes may be selected for fabrication in an alternate manner as required.

In addition, it is optional to use other materials, either natural materials such as materials from plants, materials from animals or synthetic materials to alternate the designs as required by alternate insertion in any sequences as mentioned above, whereby the preferred material may be, for example, the wings of metallic wood-boring beetles.

With the feature of the invention, a product of surface finish sheet without using a binder is obtained because the surface finish strips will bind and adhere to one another by the friction of each surface finish strip. With this feature, it is possible to remove the obtained surface finish sheet from a plate and attach to the surface of any article or implement required to be finished whereby said fixing may be achieved without using any binder.

It is possible to use a surface finish sheet product obtained from the production process in finishing the surface of any articles or implements. 

1. A process for producing a surface finish sheet comprising the stages of (1) the production of a surface finish strip; (2) the production of a surface finish sheet.
 2. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 whereby it is produced from natural materials from plants and/or from animals.
 3. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 2 wherein said natural materials are selected from Lygodium flexuosum vine, bamboo and wings of metallic wood-boring beetles.
 4. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 wherein a surface finish strip is produced by whittling said material to a long, thin strip having a width of 0.5-5 mm.
 5. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 wherein said surface finish strip may have a width of not greater than 1 mm.
 6. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 wherein the device for whittling is a metal sheet device which have several sized holes whereby downsized the natural material gradually, first insert the material to pass properly through then pass through a smaller hole.
 7. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 wherein said surface finish strip may be dyed before or after the desired size is achieved.
 8. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 wherein a surface finish sheet is produced by arranging the surface finish strips in a longitudinal or lateral or diagonal direction or in combination of 2 directions or in all directions.
 9. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 8 whereby it may be optional to arrange said surface finish strips to be adjacent to one another or interspaced.
 10. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 8 whereby it may be optional to employ a proportion of an alternate insertion pattern of 1 to
 1. 11. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 1 whereby it may be optional to employ other materials in the alternating of designs.
 12. A process for producing a surface finish sheet according to claim 11 whereby other said materials may be the wings of metallic wood-boring beetles.
 13. A surface finish sheet product obtained from the production process according to claim
 1. 14. A surface finish sheet product obtained from the production process according to claim 1 for finishing the surface of any articles or implements. 